Alining and locking mechanism for load dividers



Oct. 19, 1965 J. w. MoRRls 3,212,459

ALINING AND LOCKING MEGHANISM FOR LOAD DIVIDERS J. w. MORRIS 3,212,459

ALINING AND LOCKING MECHANISM FOR LOAD DIVIDERS Oct. 19, 1965 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 30, 1965 CHN W Mame/.5;

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United States Patent O 3,212,459 ALINING AND LOCKING MECHANISM FOR LOADDIVIDERS John W. Morris, Hackensack, NJ., assignor to PrecoIncorporated, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California FiledAug. 30, 1963, Ser. No. 305,788 6 Claims. (Cl. 10S- 376) The presentinvention relates to load dividers in the form -of movable gates orbulkheads for containers such as vans or freight cars, and concerns,among other things, improvements in alinement and locking of such gates.The improved alinement mechanism relates especially to gates that aremounted to swing about a vertical axis, and, more particularly, that aresuspended from a transverse overhead rail or beam t-o swing about suchvertical axis. The improved locking system here described is generallyapplicable to gates suspended for movement between working and idlepositions in a compartment, and is particularly useful where a gate issuspended on a vertical axis from an overhead transverse beam `and isalined for locking relative to such a beam. That type of suspension ishere shown in simple form `as typical and illustrative, but it will beunderstood that the improvements of the present invention are notnecessarily limited to incorporation in the type of suspension shown.

The characteristics of the present invention will be best understoodfrom the following description of typical and illustrative embodiments,with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is anelevation showing the improvements of .the invention applied to thestated type of suspension and showing the gate locked in transverseposition;

FIG. 2 is a view showing the gate locked in a posi- `tion against a carside-wall;

lFIGS. 3 and 4 are elevations taken as indicated by ,line 3-3 on FIG. land showing the locking mech-a- ;nism in, respectively, locked andunlocked positions; and

FIG. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of FIG. l. The suspension as hereillustratively shown is described as follows:

In the gate suspension here shown for illustration, the

gate structure 24 is pivotally mounted by means ofa -swivel pin 62 on apair of rollers 60 which ride lower flanges 52 of a transverse beamelement 40. That general form of gate support is shown, for example, inU.S.

Patent 1,522,784 to W. I. Latiey. In the present embodiment pin 62 has alower head 64 seating a spring 66.

VA U-member 68 is carried on the spring and carries structure.

Each'rail 20, as here illustratively shown, has a lower horizontalflange 30 with one or more locking apertures `32, and a vertical web 34with one or more apertures 36 jadapted to receive a supporting pin 37.Pin 37 supports a depending end element 38 of the beam struccture,"those elements being secured to the ends of and supportingthetransverse beam element 40. That trans- -verse'beam element may besemi-permanently mounted 4in a predetermined position across the carinterior by engagement of supporting pins 37 in a single set of op-'3,212,459 Patented Oct. 19, 1965 lCe posite rail holes 36. On the otherhand, there may be a longitudinally spaced series of such pin receivingholes 36, as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, and pins 37 may be retractiblein end members 38 to be removed from one set of those holes and thenprojected into `another set after the beam has been moved longitudinallyof the rails `to a different transverse position. To facilitate such4beam movement it may be movably supported on the rails in any, Idesiredmanner, not shown here. In any case, whether there is a single pinreceiving hole in each rail, or a longitudinal series of such holes, oneor more locking apertures 32 are provided in the rail ange '30 in alinedrelation with each of the holes 36, as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, sothat when the gate supporting beam is located .at any set of pinreceiving holes 36, the locking aperture or apertures 32 are in positionto receive the locking pins 90 mounted on the gate.

-One of the reasons for suspending the beam below rails 20 is to provideclearance for such car equipment as an overhead duct, indicated at D;but as will be noted the fact that the beam i-s below the support axisof pins 37 is also useful in certain aspects of the invention.

In the figure the suspended gate 24 is shown as a half-width gateadapted to extend transversely from a car side wall 26 t-o approximatelythe car center designated CL in the ligure. Consequently the right handrail 20 in FIG. 1 is located close to that center line, and thestructure here shown would be duplicated at the other side of CL. Itwill be understood however that such right hand rail can be mountedunder the ceiling near the opposite side wall and that -gate 24 and thesuspension beam can be correspondingly increased in their transversedimensions to make gate 24 -one of full width. Two gate alining membersare mounted on either the gate or the lbeam and a single alining member82 on the other. As here shown, the upper edge of the gate carries twoupstanding stop members 80 which, as seen, in plan in FIG. 5, areflaringly cup-shaped, comprising two angularly rel-ated stop faces 83with vertical Vertex. Beam member 40 carries a depending stop pin 82. On

Swingin-g the gate in either direction about the vertical axis of theswivel pin, one or the other stop member 80 cornes up against pin 82 ifthe swivel pin is at all near a central location on the beam member. Theilare of 80, as it moves onto pin 82, causes the gate to movelongitudinally of the beam until 82 occupies a position in 80, as inFIG. 5, engaging both stop faces 83 and positioned thereby at the vertexof the flare. In that position the gate is directly alined in the planeof the transverse beam and also is centered transversely with relationto the locking r-ails 20. Hence the gate is in a position where thelocking pins 90, v92 are alined longitudinally with each other andtransversely with the rail perforations 32, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

In the particular illustrative form of the suspension beam structurehere shown, the gate weight suspended from member 40 -below the axis ofsupporting pins 37 tends to keep 40 directly below that axis and tendsto keep suspension pin 62 vertical. As will be noted below, suspensionspring 66 normally supports a portion of the gate weight, typicallyabout one-half or less; but Whenever the lower locking pins 92 aredisengaged from the floor rails, as to swing the gate about the verticalsuspension axis, the whole gate weight is carried by beam member 40. Theform of stop members 80 `and 82 is such that their delining action isindependent of small vertical movement of the gate relative to beam 40,described below.

The improved locking arrangements of the present invention are, ingeneral, similar to a locking system previously developed. The followingdescribes that locking arrangement with the present improvements.

Below the left hand upper longitudinal ceiling rail la longitudinalfloor rail 100 is secured to the car fioor structure 102; and below thecentral pair of longitudinal ceiling rails 20 a double longitudinalfioor rail 104 is also secured to the floor structure 192. Each lowerrail has in its flange a set of locking perforations or a series oflongitudinally spaced sets of locking perforations 108, Ialined with thelocking perforations I32 of the upper rails. FIGS. 3 andv 4 show how theseveral locking pins cooperate with the central -upper and lower rails,and FIG. 2 shows their cooperation with one pair of the verticallycorresponding side rails.

Gate 24 carries a manually `operable handle 120 mounted on and swingingabout the axis of a shaft 122 that extends horizontally through the.gate from one vertical edge to the other. At its ends shaft 122 carriestwo double throw crank members 124 to each of which one end of twolinkages 126 and 128 are pivotally connected. The details of thelinkages at both side edges of the gate are similar, and 'are shown inFIGS. 3 and 4. Linkage 128 extends down from its crank connection 130,with a length adjustment at 132, to connect at 134 with a verticallyguided sliding foot pin 92 mounted on the gate. Linkage 126 extends upfrom its crank connection 138 to connect with vertically guided slidingupper locking pin 90 mounted on the gate. That linkage, with a lengthadjustment at 142, has a lost motion connection with upper locking pin90. In the present improvement that lost moti-on is illustrated asincluding a head 148 on the linkage, that head being free to move upfrom foot 150 of locking pin 90 (FIGS. 2 and 3). After some freemovement downwardly from that position, the head engages foot 150 topull locking pin 90 positively down (FIG. 4). Each locking pin 90 and 92has at its rail engaging end preferably two perforation entering prongsor fingers 152 spaced to enter two adjacent rail perforations in thegate position of FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, and, in the gate position of FIG. 2,to enter one perforation with the other finger inside the inside edge ofthe rail flange. Between the two fingers each pin has a footing surfaceat 154 adapted to seat on the respective rail flange betweenperforations, or, in the position of FIG. 2, inside the enteredperforation.

4Each upper locking pin 90 is spring loaded upwardly by the loadingspring 156. In the present improvement spring 156 seats at its lower endon a washer-like plate 157. That seat plate is supported on linkage head148 when that hea-d is at or near the upper end of its travel (FIGS. 2`and 3), 'but when head 148 moves downward (FIG. 4) seat plate 157 issuported on footings 158 which are fixedly mounted in the gate framing.In a preferred construction the seat plate 157 and its footings 158 areused only for one of the loading springs, the other loading spring being.seated directly on the linkage, as on head 148. In either case thespring footing may be said to press down on the gate and consequentlypress down on lower locking pins 92 which are connected to the gate via128, 124, 122. In the position of FIG. 4 the spring footing on 157seated on 158 presses directly on the gate. In the posi-tion of FIG. 3,the footing of spring 156 on 157 presses down on linkage 126 which isconnected to the gate vita 124, 122.

Operation is as follows. In the locked position of Vthe gate, s'hown inFIGS. l, 2 and 3, handle 120 is up and recessed in the gate, wehre it isheld by a lat-ch mechanism, not shown. Cranks 124 are then in therelative position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, holding lower linkages 128down 4and upper linkages 126 up. As the operating mechanism is moved tothat position, the lower foot pins 92 are forced down ,relative to thegate, their prongs entering perforations in the -lower rails, and theirseating surfaces 154 seating on th-ose rails to raise the gate to therelative position shown in those figures. In that raised position of.the gate, suspension spring 66 is partially expanded, as in FIG. 1.Carrying a part of the gate weight, it reduces the manual effortrequired to throw handle 120 to the gate raising and locking position.The spring, placing a part of the gate weight on the `suspension beamstructure, keeps that structure from chattering. In the half-width gateshere illustratively shown the expanded spring need only carry 15% to 20%of the gate weight to reduce the manual lever forces sufiiciently. On `afull width gate the expanded spring may carry a larger fraction of thegate weight.

At the same time, linkage 126 moves toward its upper position, allowingupper locking pins to be moved up 'by loading springs 156 until theirprongs enter the upper rail perforations and their seating surfaces 154have seated upwardly on the upper rail flanges. Then, further upwardmovement of linkage 126 moves the lost motion head 148 up off foot 150,157 off seats 158, so thatin the finally locked position of FIGS. 1, 2and 3, upper locking pins 90 are pressed up only by springs 156. Theupward movement of linkage 126- also raises spring seat 157 off footing158, compressing the spring and increasing its force. That spring actionpressing up on the upper seated locking pins and pressing down on thegate via linkage 126, takes care of variations in vertical `distancebetween upper and lower rails, land holds the gate itself between theupper and lower rails, avoiding looseness that might allow gatedeterioration by chatter.

When handle is released from 4its latch and lowered to throw cranks 124to the position of FIG. 4, lower linkage 128 is pulled up relative tot-he gate. That first allows .the gate to move down to a position suchas shown in FIG. 4, where suspension .spring 66 is closed or nearly so,with the gate weight then wholly and effectively positively supported onbeam member 40. Further movement of handle 120 and cranks 124 then pullslower foot pins 92 up to the position of FIG. 4, clear-ing the lowerrails. Crank 124 also pulls down upper linkage 126, closing the lostmotion at 14-8, 150, and pulling the upper locking pins d-own to thepositions of FIG. 4, clear of the upper rails. During that movement,seat plate 157 of loading .spring 156 becomes seated on fixed footingsy158. The unlocked gate is then free for swinging movement about thevertical axis of the suspension and gate or for translational movementalong the beam; and the cross beam may then 'be moved to .anotherposition longitudinally of the car, where the gate may again be lockedin transverse position.

During the first part of the movement of linkage 126 from the pinprojecting position of FIG. 3 to the pin withdrawing position of FIG. 4,spring seat plate 157 moves down onto fixed footings 158 as the lostmotion between head 148 and foot 150 is taken up. During the remainderof that pin withdrawing movement, loading spring 156 remains seated ineffect on the gate frame and tends to push the locking pin up withrelation to the gate. That force is transmitted from locking pin 90through the closed lost motion to crank 124, and opposes the handleswing during the remainder of the handle movemnet from vertical.

On reverse movement of the handle from the position of FIG. 4 to that ofFIG. 3 to raise the gate and project the lock-ing pins, spring 156 isseated on the frame supported washer plate 157 during the first part ofthat movement, and exerts its force through the linkages to help inlifting the gate weight. As the operating parts approach the finalposition of FIG. 3 seat plate 157 is lifted off its frame-fixed'footings 158 and no longer has the effect above described. But at thattime the crank connections and 138 of the linkages are aproaching or onare dead center and the manual effort necessary at handle 120 iscomparatively small.

Finally it is noted that in the unlocked position of FIG. 4, with theloading spring or springs 156 seated via 157, 15S on the gate andcompressing that spring, the spring or springs then urge the parts backtoward the lo-cked position of FIG. 3. Thus, if a careless operatorleaves the gate unlocked to the rails, the spring or springs urge thelocking pins and the handle toward the locked position of FIG. 3 andengage the locking pins with the upper and lower rails. The parts arepreferably so dimensioned that the locking pins fully engage apertures32 before that action of spring 156 upon the operating mechanism isterminated by contact of linkage head 148 with the underside of seatplate 157, or is rendered inetfective to pr-oduce further movement byseating of low-er pin surface 154 on the rail. Hence whenever handle 12@is rele-ased the gate is reliably restrained from accidental loosemotion which might damage it or the car.

Iclaim:

1. In -a movable load dividing .structure for transport vehicles and thelike, the combination of gate structure adapted to form a partition in acornpartment,

means for supporting the gate structure for movement between operatingand idle position, said supporting means permitting limited verticalmovement of the gate structure,

upper and lower l-ocking formations adapted to be mounted in fixedrelation to the compartment,

locking means carried by the gate structure and including at least onepair of upwardly and downwardly projecti'ble locking pins adapted to beprojected into locking engagements with respective locking formations,

said locking pins having shoulders adapted respectively to seat upwardlyon one locking formation and to seat downwardly on the other lockingformation,

pin operating means carried by the gate structure and movable betweengate locking and gate releasing positions,

a linkage acting between said operating means and the downwardlyprojectible locking pin to force said pin Idownwardly and to retractsaid pin upwardly with relation to the gate structure in response t-othe respective movements to locking and releasing positions of theoperating means,

a loading spring tending to move said upwardly projectible locking pinupwardly into locking and seated engagement with said other lockingformation,

seating means for said loa-ding spring normally in seated relation tothe gate stru-cture and liftable therefrom,

a second linkage connected with said operating means `and movable inresp-onse to movement to gate releasing position thereof to positivelyretract said upwardly projectible locking pin in opopsition to saidspring,

said second linkage including a part movable in response to movement togate locking position of the operating means to engage said springseating means and lift the same to c-ompress the spring.

2. In a movable load dividing structure for transport vehicles and thelike, the combination of gate structure adapted to form a partition in acompartment,

means for supporting the gate structure for movement between operatingand idle positions, said supporting means permitting limited verticalmovement of the gate structure,

upper and lower locking formations adapted to be mounted in fixedrelation to the compartment,

locking means carried by the gate structure and including at least onepair of upwardly and downwardly projectible locking pins adapted to beprojected into locking engagements with respective locking formations,

said locking pins having shoulders adapted respectively to seat upwardlyon one locking formation and to seat downwardly on the other lockingformation, movable pin operating means carried by the gate structure,

a linkage acting between said operating means and the downwardlyprojectible locking pin to force said pin downwardly and to retract saidpin upwardly with relation to the gate structure in response tomovements to different positions of the operating means,

a loading spring tending to move said upwardly projectible locking pinupwardly int-o locking and seated engagement with said other lockingformation,

seating means for said loading spring normally seated Ion a part fixedwith relation t-o the gate structure and upwardly movable therefrom,

a second linkage connected with said operating means and movablevertically thereby,

a lost motion connecting said linkage with the upwardly projecting pin,

said second linkage including a part that on upward movement opens saidlost motion and a part that engages said spring seating means to raisethe same ofI its seat to compress the spring.

3. The combination dened in claim 2 and in which said gate supportingmeans includes a spring carrying at least a part of the weight of thegate structure and allowing limited vertical movement thereof.

4. The combination delined in claim 2 and in which said gate supportingmeans includes a horizontal beam,

a vertical swivel pin depending from said beam,

and a spring carried by the swivel pin and resiliently supporting thegate structure for limited vertical movement thereof relative to thebeam.

5. The combination detined in claim 4 and including stop means carriedby the gate 4structure and said beam engageable to position the gatestructure in the vertical plane of the beam.

`6. In a movable load dividing structure for transport vehicle (and thelike, the combination of a horizontal beam structure extending itslength transversely of a wall of a vehicle compartment,

support means movable in translation longitudinally of the transverselyextending beam,

a single swivel depending from the support means on a vertical axis,

gate structure suspended on the swivel, said gate structure beingswingable in a horizontal plane about the swivel axis andtranslationally movable lengthwise of the beam by virtue of saidmovement of the support means,

and means acting to position the gate structure longitudinally of thebeam 4structure and also in a plane parallel to the length of the beamstructure,

said means comprising stop two formations one of which is mounted on oneof said structures and cornprises two angularly related stop facesmeeting in a vertical vertex, said stop faces positioned to makeopposite horizontal acute angles with the length of the beam structure,

the other Vof which stop formations is mounted on the other of saidstructures and is adapted, by gate swinging, to engage either or bothsaid stop faces,

all whereby the gate structure is definitely positioned longitudinallyof the beam structure and in a plane parallel to the length of thatstructure by inte-rengagement of the two stop formations.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 659,513 10/00Dubus 33-191 X 3,018,741 1/62 Loomis etal 10S-376 ARTHUR L. LA POINT,Primary Examiner.

1. IN A MOVABLE LOAD DIVIDING STRUCTURE FOR TRANSPORT VEHICLES AND THELIKE, THE COMBINATION OF GATE STRUCTURE ADAPTED TO FORM A PARTITION IN ACOMPARTMENT, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE GATE STRUCTURE FOR MOVEMENTBETWEEN OPERATING AND IDLE POSITION, SAID SUPPORTING MEANS PERMITTINGLIMITED VERTICAL MOVEMENT OF THE GATE STRUCTURE, UPPER AND LOWER LOCKINGFORMATIONS ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED IN FIXED RELATION TO THE COMPARTMENT,LOCKING MEANS CARRIED BY THE GATE STRUCTURE AND INCLUDING AT LEAST ONEPAIR OF UPWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY PROJECTIBLE LOCKING PINS ADAPTED TO BEPROJECTED INTO LOCKING ENGAGEMENTS WITH RESPECTIVE LOCKING FORMATIONS,SAID LOCKING PINS HAVING SHOULDERS ADAPTED RESPECTIVELY TO SEAT UPWARDLYON ONE LOCKING FORMATION AND TO SEAT DOWNWARDLY ON THE OTHER LOCKINGFORMATION, PIN OPERATING MEANS CARRIED BY THE GATE STRUCTURE AND MOVABLEBETWEEN GATE LOCKING AND GATE RELEASING POSITIONS, A LINKAGE ACTINGBETWEEN SAID OPERATING MEANS AND THE DOWNWARDLY PROJECTIBLE LOCKING PINTO FORCE SAID PIN DOWNWARDLY AND TO RETRACT SAID PIN UPWARDLY WITHRELATION TO THE GATE STRUCTURE IN RESPONSE TO THE RESPECTIVE MOVEMENTSTO LOCKING AND RELEASING POSITIONS OF THE OPERATING MEANS, A LOADINGSPRING TENDING TO MOVE SAID UPWARDLY PROJECTIBLE LOCKING PIN UPWARDLYINTO LOCKING AND SEATED ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID OTHER LOCKING FORMATION,SEATING MEANS FOR SAID LOADING SPRING NORMALLY IN SEATED RELATION TO THEGATE STRUCTURE AND LIFTABLE THEREFROM, A SECOND LINKAGE CONNECTED WITHSAID OPERATING MEANS AND MOVEABLE IN RESPONSE TO MOVEMENT TO GATERELEASING POSITION THEREOF TO POSITIVELY RETRACT SAID UPWARDLYPROJECTIBLE LOCKING PIN IN OPPOSITION TO SAID SPRING, SAID SECONDLINKAGE INCLUDING A PART MOVABLE IN RESPONSE TO MOVEMENT TO GATE LOCKINGPOSITION OF THE OPERATING MEANS TO ENGAGE SAID SPRING SEATING MEANS ANDLIFT THE SAME TO COMPRESS THE SPRING.